Improved apparatus for saving mercury from the washings of gold and silver ores



' UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIoE.

WELLS SPICER, OF SUMMIT COUNTY, COLORADO TERRITORY.

lMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SAVING MERCURY FROM THE WASHINGS 0F GOLD AND SILVER ORES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 105,010, dated July 5, 1870.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WELLS SPICER, of Summit county, in the Territory of Colorado, have invented a new and useful Apparatus for Securing Waste Mercury found in all metallurgical operations where precious metals, such as gold and silver, are extracted from their respective ores by metallic mercury; and do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a vertical 'crosssection of said apparatus, and Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectio of the same on the line w of Fig. 1.

Letters of like name and kind refer to like parts in each of the gures.

My invention consists of a sluice tub or trough, (or several combined,) through which mercury is caused to pass after having been employed in the amalgamation of gold or silver ores, in either tables, stamp-mills, or amalgamatin g pans, whereby the contaminated mercury is purified and deposited, together with such precious metals as were not previously separated or amalgamated, the metallic surface of the tub, through which an electric current passes, abstracting and binding the metals when suspended or in solution, accordin to the well-known electrolytic laws.

In the annexed drawings, A represents a copper sluice-tub from twenty'to twenty-four inches in diameter and about eight inches deep. Attached near the bottom and top, and upon opposite sides of the trough, are two spouts, B and C, through the rst of. which the mercury solution and amalgams enter the vessel, where they are sufficiently agitated, and then discharged through the opposite spoilt.

The tub A rests upon a platform or bed of timber, D, to which are secured two vertical posts, E E, which are tied together near their upper ends by two cross-bars, F F, forming a support for a vertical shaft, G, working in suitable bearings in said cross-bars. Secured to the lower end of the shaft G is a cross-bar or arm, H, corresponding in length to the diameter of the tub A, placed in a horizontal position immediately over said tub.

I I represent two metallic strips secured to the under side of the arm H, and extending from either end of said arm to within a short each in succession.

distance of its center, and are each provided with three copper rods or plates, K K, Ste., which extend downward to within a short distance of the bottom of the tub. A pulley or crank being attached to the upper end of the shaft, and said shaft being caused to rotate, the arm H and strips and plates constitute revolving electrodes.

L represents acopper vessel about six inches in dameter, and somewhat deeper than the tub A, to the bottom of which (in the center) it is secured.

M M represent two zinc plates, connected at their upper ends to the strips I I, and extending downward within the vessel L, forming with it a Daniell battery.

A perforated sack or receptacle for containing solid blue vitriol,'U, is secured to the center of the arm H, and extends downward to about one-third of the depth of the vessel L, for the vpurpose of replacing the same salt in the solution contained in said vessel, as it is decomposed by electrolytic action, and metallic copper deposited upon the walls of said vessel or battery.

The vessel L being now filled with a copper solution containing some free 'sulphuric acid, an electric current is produced, which flows from the zinc plates M M, through the copper strips I I, into the copper plates K K, Ste., down which it passes into the mercurial waste solution, and from thence to the copper surface of the tub A.

The metallic tub, assuming electro-negative polarity, attracts and receives electro-positive elements like mercury, gold, silver, Ste. v

When the tub A is charged with a solution of, mercury, flowered, contaminated, or acidified mercury, metallic mercury is at once deposited at the bottom and upon the sides of the tub, and thus secured and restored to its primitive purity, instead ot' being wasted. If the solution contains any other precious metals-such as gold, silver, Sta-they are also deposited and amalgamated by the mercury. There should be at least two of these tubs, so placed as that the solution shall pass through Said solution, being first thrown upon the bottom of the tubs, is caused to rotate by the motion of the agitators, so as to bring it continually against the galvanized surfaces of said tubs, upon which all ofthe precious metals are deposited, such as from 2. Also, inconnection with the above-deany cause pass with said solution from the scribed'apparatus, the saving and securing of rst tub being deposited in the next.

Having thus fully set forth the nature and merits of my invention, what I claim as newr 1. The metallic sluice-tub A, containing in its center a permanent galvanic battery, L, the zinc plates of which, M M, are in metallic connection with the movable polar agitators K K, &c., substantially as described, and for the purpose set forth.

Waste mercury when in solution, flowered, or amalgamated with precious metals, substantially as and for the purpose shown.

WELLS SPICER.

Witnesses:

H. J. MODILL, J P. KIRBY. 

